Published in The Herald
28th August 2010
TWO Polish men who ran brothels in Plymouth have been jailed and will eventually be deported. Piotr Krupa and Michael Barcicki ran two brothels in the city, charging visitors £60 for half an hour, £100 for an hour, more for house calls and £150 for visits outside the city, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
Staffed by Polish women, their earnings were split 50-50 with Krupa, who supplied the women with accommodation, transport and condoms. One woman, aged 20, left after a week, during which she had seen up to 25 men, some of them on as many as four occasions. She was driven to appointments by Krupa, Barcicki and a man called Marius, who cannot be traced.
The other woman, a 19-year-old, was not allowed out alone, and was threatened by Marius with a handgun, the court heard. She awoke after being plied with drink by three men to find herself wearing different clothes, and her phone, passport, papers and £600 earnings all missing.
Krupa then demanded £1,500 to get her passport back and threatened that if she left he would make her younger sister in Poland come and work in her place. He demanded her bank details and told her two Englishmen and the Spaniard who had her property had all raped her while she was unconscious. The woman eventually escaped while Barcicki was asleep and went to the police.
Another Polish woman was recruited after working in Cardiff and was collected from Plymouth station by Krupa and Barcicki and taken to the brothel in Sydney Street, Stonehouse. After two weeks, she wanted to leave, but Krupa took her passport and threatened to throw her in the street.
The operation moved to Woodland Terrace, Greenbank, which was raided by police on September 30 last year. Three other young Polish women were found working there.
Nicolas Gerasimidis, for Krupa, said his offences were more to do with brothel-keeping than trafficking and the girls had not been sexually corrupted. "He came into the business as a novice to make money on the side and tried to throw his weight around," he said. Krupa's father was dead and he supported his mother and grandmother in Poland.
Nick Lewin, for Barcicki, said his client had been very much a secondary party, who had been supportive and helpful to the women. He had worked full-time since coming to England six years ago, including spells at Toshiba and Princess Yachts in Plymouth.
Both men admitted keeping a brothel and trafficking the women, with Krupa also admitting trafficking one of the women and controlling prostitution, and Barcicki a further charge of brothel-keeping. Kruap asked for two other counts relating to three more women to be taken into account, and Barcicki one count.
Krupa, 25, of Carlisle Road, Whitleigh, was jailed for a total of five years by Judge Francis Gilbert QC. Barcicki, 25, of Sydney Street, Stonehouse, was jailed for 40 months.
Judge Gilbert ordered both men, who have already served 329 days each on remand, to remain on the Sex Offenders' Register indefinitely and ordered that both be deported on completion of their sentences.
Detective Sergeant Andy Kings, of the sexual offences investigation team, said it had been a "long and complicated investigation". He added: "These people [Krupa and Barcicki] were targeting the vulnerable and having got them into this position, they used threats of violence to them and their families in order to keep them in working."
Det Sgt Kings said the witnesses were "brave" to stand up to Krupa and Barcicki. He said: "I think it shows how desperate they were, that they would try and escape from where they were being held and go to the police, even though they are in a foreign country, spoke no English and fear for themselves if recaptured."
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